Means for securing parts of furniture together.



- P. SIGOTTE. MEANS FOR SECURING PARTS OF FURNITURE TOGETHER. APPLICATION, FILED JUNE 30,1908.

918.209. I Patented Apr. 13, 1909.

kil -Hi 71 12 l ill/JENNA), d d 1 WITNESSES v [MENTOR si wj ATTORNEYS FFICE.

PIERRE SIGOTTE, OF LANSING, KANSAS.

MEANS FOR SECURING PARTS OF FURNITURE TOGETHER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PIERRE SICOTTE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Lansing, in the county of Leavenworth and State of Kansas, have invented a new and Improved Means for Securing Parts of Furniture Together, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

In the manufacture of fine furniture for supplying retail dealers in diiferent parts of the country, and particularly of wardrobes, buffets, bureaus and cabinets of various di mensions, such as are known to the trade as case work the production of such goods in completed condition ready for shipment, involves high freight charges owing to their bulk. If the main portions of such an article of furniture were assembled so that they might be separated and closely packed in a shipping crate or box, the space taken up would be greatly reduced and a cheaper freight rate be obtained. Furthermore, there would be less injury to the goods, resulting from knocking down the same for packing and shipment, if a suitable means were provided that would enable such a dismemberment of parts in an easy, safe and expeditious manner.

One purpose of my invention is to provide novel, simple means for assembling portions of an article of furniture, such as hereinbefore specified, which will compensate for variations in the thickness of different parts that are assembled, due to warpage or shrinkage.

A further object to be attained by my invention is to dispense with the use of screws, nails or pins and with the necessity for using tools in the erection of an article of furniture, which has previously been completed and knocked down so as to separate its members for transportation.

The invention consists in the novel con struction and combination of parts, as is hereinafter described and defined in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of two com plementary portions of an article of furniture, having the improved means for looking said portions-together, shown in proper relative positions for interlocking engage- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 30, 1908.

Patented April 18, 1909.

Serial No. 441,085.

ment; 2 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view of two portions of an article .of woodwork, and a like view of the improved means for locking said parts together, the section being substantially on the line 2-2 in Fig. 3; Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical transverse sectional view of two parts, showing the improved locking means in position and adjusted for holding said parts connected, the section being taken substantially on the line 33 in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a detached perspective view of a bracket loop that is a detail of the invention; Fig. 5 is a detached perspective view of a springpressed latch hook that is a complementary portion of the invention; Fig. 6 is an end view of the device shown in Fig. 5, seen in the direction of the arrow to in said figure; and Fig. 7 is a longitudinal sectional View, substantially on the line 77 in Fig. 5.

As shown in the drawings, and briefly described, the securing device for joining together the complementary portions of woodwork, essentially comprises a latch hook held slidably in a rectangular box, and connected with a spring that is adapted to retract the hook. It further consists of a coupling loop, which is forcibly engaged by the latch hook. As the hook is secured in one piece of the material to be connected, and the loop in the other portion thereof, the engagement of the hook with the loop and also with the spring, serves to secure the two portions of woodwork together; and due to the action of the spring, compensation is afforded for any warping and shrinking of the material, and the parts are held firmly but detachably connected together.

In the specific construction of the latch hook and the means for supporting it in engagement with a spring, 10 represents a box having a rectangular form, consisting of four side walls a and an integral top wall a that is transversely slotted so as to afiord a passage therethrough for the body of the latch hook. The latch hook completed, comprises two integral members 11, 11 that are disposed at a right angle edgewise, the flat body thereof that may be cut from plate metal having the outer corner where the two members join each other, rounded, as shown at b in Figs. 3 and 5.

The member 11, which constitutes the hook proper, has the lower edge thereof at or near its free end, sloped outwardly and toward the top edge, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5 at c,

terminating in a point. Said lower edge is slightly recessed, as shown at 0 between the sloped edge and the member 11, which has such thickness and width as adapts it to slide freely through the slot in the top wall a of the spring holding box 10, and at the lower end thereof is provided with a laterallyprojected lug d. There is a coiled spring 12 loosely fitted into the box 10 before the lug d is bent sidewise, and the latter when completed, presses upon the adjacent end of said spring, as is indicated in Figs. 3, 6 and 7.

The coupling loop 13, which is a co-acting feature of the device, consists of a rectangular foot plate (2 of greater length than width, and from one side edge of which, near the longitudinal center, extends a side member 6, terminating in a right angular bend (1 from which projects a spacing member 0 that is defined in length by a right angular bend 6*, at which point a side member 0 is connected with the spacing member e The side edges of the members 6 and 0 are cut away at the corners 6 6, thus reducing the width of the spacing member 0 between said side edges at the corners. The side member 0 at the opposite end from the bend a is secured by a tongue and mortise connection 6 with the remaining edge of the foot plate 6, thus producing a rectangular loop on the foot plate that projects from one side thereof, as is clearly shown in Fig. a.

In arranging the male and female sections of the improved hook and loop coupling device for the detachable connection of two complementary portions of a bureau or the like, and which for illustration may be represented by the sections of woodwork A and B, shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the section A that may be an outer side piece of the structure, is mortised as at g from its normally inner side toward, but not through, the outer surface thereof. The mortise specified is rectangular and as indicated in Fig. 3, is just deep enough to permit the complete embedment of the spring-holding box 10. There may be any required number of mortises g formed in the material A, and for accommodation of the hook members 11, a vertical channel it is formed in the inner side of the material B, opposite the mortises g, whereby the hook or hooks 11 will be adapted for sliding movement in said channel. In the material B, that may be a wall for another section of the piece of furniture, mortises are cut to correspond in position with that given to the respective spring boxes 10, and into each of said mortises, the looped portion of a coupling loop 13 is driven.

It will be noted in Fig. 6 that upon two sides of the spring box 10, toes (Z are projected outwardly, which serve to hold the box in the mortise it occupies, and as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, similar toes 2' are outwardly extended from the side walls 6', c of the coupling loop 13, which serve a like purpose when said loop is driven into the mortises provided for its reception. -The depth of the mortise in the piece of material B, as shown in Figs. and 3, adapts it to receive the side walls 6, 6, so that the footplate a thereon will have enforced contact with the side of the material B that is opposite from the side wall thereof which is slotted. The length of the side walls 6, e, is so proportioned, that the transverse spacing member 6 will be disposed near to the inner surface of the piece of material A when the two sections A, B, of a piece of furniture are imposed one on the other for their connection. To secure the parts A, B, together the hook member 11 is loosely embedded in the channel l1 and then the material A is forced downward, which will cause the sloped edge 0 of the hook member 11 to ride upon the upper inner corner of the spacing member 0 A further depression of the portion A of the piece of furniture, will compress the spring 12, and will permit the inner, recessed portion of the lower edge of the hook member 1]. to become sea-ted upon the inner surface of the spacing member 6, and thus firmly but detachably, hug the section A. of the piece of furniture against the adjacent surface of the section B thereof, the spring 12 compensating for the shallow r .cess c. It will beauiderstood that if there are a plurality of the imposed connections arranged in series, they will all be locked at the same time in the manner specified.

In Fig. 1, the front wall and one side wall of a chilfonnier are shown, the front wall 0 having the hook members 11 arranged on one side edge thereof, and in the side wall D, a corresponding number of coupling loops 13 are embedded for a coupled engagement of the hooks.

From the foregoing description and an inspection of the drawings, it will be seen that the principal portions of an article of furniture of the case type may be connected by the employment of the improved lockiugnneans, and be rendered rigid in all the joints, and as the connections are spring drawn, it is evident full compensation is afforded for any slight shrinking, expansion, orwarping of the material that might occur. It will also be evident that fine furniture may be erected by connecting the parts thereof by the improved couplings, and that after the article of furniture, such as a cabinet, has been completed and finished ready for service, the cabinet may be quickly knocked down without the slightest injury thereto, the parts wrapped in suitable soft coverings, and all compactly boxed for transportation, that will be billed at a reduced rate as compared with the cost for carriage of a similar article if shipped in erected condition.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A coupling device, embodying a case or box, a spring-pressed latch hook, having a hook member and a member slidable in said case and a coupling loop that receives the hook member.

2. A coupling device embodying a rightaugularly bent latch hook, a box wherein one member of the latch hook slides, a spring in the box pressing an end of the latch hook, and a coupling loop that receives the other member of the latch hook.

3. A coupling device, embodying a rightangularly bent latch hook flat in the body, and having one member provided with a sloped edge at one end thereof, a box wherein the other member of the latch hook slides, a closed end on the box, a coiled spring in the box seating on the closed end, a lug on the inner end of the slidable member of the latch hook and bearing on the end of the spring, and a coupling loop that receives the hook member which is sloped on one edge.

at. In a device of the character described, the latch hook, comprising a rectangular box closed at one end, and having a toe projected at one side, a rightangularly bent hook body having two members, one member having a sloped edge terminating in a point, the other member sliding through a slot in the end of wall of the box, a coiled spring in said box, and a lug on the member of the hook body that is within the box, said lug seating on the adjacent end of the spring.

In a device of the character described, the coupling loop, comprising a foot plate, a loop extended from the foot plate having parallel sides, and an integral spacing member at the opposite ends of the sides, and toes projected from the sides.

(3. The combination with two portions of an article of furniture, of a spring holding box inserted in a mortise in one portion, a rightangularly bent latch hook having one member slidable in the box, a spring in said box pressing on a lug on the end of the slidable member, the other member of said latch hook having a sloped edge, and a coupling loop having a foot plate, two sides, and a spacing member at the ends of the sides, said coupling loop occupying a mortise in the other portion of the article of furniture and receiving the latch hook member having the sloped edge where the two portions of the article of furniture are to be locked together.

7. The combination with two portions of an article of furniture, of a box inserted in a mortise in one portion, an angular latch hook, having one member slidable in said box, a spring in said box pressing on the in ner end of the slidable member, and a coupling loop occupying a mortise in the other portion of the article of furniture and adapted to receive the other member of the latch hook.

8. In a device of the character described, a box having a closed end provided with a slot adjacent to one side thereof, an angular latch hook having a member located within the box and slidable in the said slot, and a hook member integrally connected with the outer end of said sliding member, a spring in said box bearing at one end against the said closed end of the box, a projection at the inner or free end of said slidable member and engaging the other end of said spring, and a coupling for receiving the hook member.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

PIERRE SICOTTE.

lVitnesses FRED. J. Drums. L. CHURCHILL. 

